


being too bold

by sunandmoongobrrr



Series: Ember Island Drabbles [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, can i even write without angst, i am a lost cause, is this angst??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29605899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunandmoongobrrr/pseuds/sunandmoongobrrr
Summary: Part 3 of the Ember Island Drabbles!
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Ember Island Drabbles [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2175117
Kudos: 24





	being too bold

Zuko wonders if he’s being too bold here.

Not that he has much experience with girls, but Katara’s not a  _ girl _ . 

Well, she is, but it’s different. Because she’s not a random person Iroh’s matched him up with on their travels. Because he knows her. Because they’re friends.  _ Just friends _ . 

_ Just friends, just friends, just friends _ .

He repeats it over and over again, the words echoing around the walls of his brain. They are just friends, despite the feeling he gets when his hand clasps around hers. Despite the way her blue eyes look in the candlelit kitchen. Despite the way her face looks through shivering water before it drenches her.

He finds her one night when everyone else is gone to bed, at the water’s edge with the full moon shining through the palm trees. Her chest rises and falls as she breathes, the muscles in her back contracting with every movement, carved out by moonlight. Zuko’s mouth runs dry. She is the epitome of perfection, all fluidity and grace. Lost in her presence, Zuko missteps, rustling the bushes in front of him. She turns.

“Katara?” he calls, before she can find him.

“Zuko? You’re still awake?” she watches him as he approaches, his feet sinking into the black sand.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he whispers. They are inches from each other.

“It’s the moon,” Katara breaks their eye contact, looking up. He follows her gaze. “My bending’s more powerful because of it. I couldn’t sleep.”

He thinks about that time they went away. Her bending was so precise, so strong. She could move a droplet of ink, a single cell of blood, without losing focus.

“More powerful?” he chuckles. “Is that even possible?” It’s meant to be a compliment, but her eyes fall.

“That…” she starts. “It’s not something I like to think about. It’s not something I want to do.”

Her hand is outreached, palm-up. The moon is so bright, he can see every line etched on the surface of her hand. She wiggles her fingers slightly, as if the blood inside is itching her. He closes his hand around hers.

“Then show me what else you can do.”

She gets water from the thin air, turns yards of sea into ice, bends the petals of flowers open to face the moonlight. His eyes widen in pure awe. He spends the rest of the night watching her. 


End file.
